Am wondering who will be the final rap-battlers. Kinda like to see HR—it doesn’t seem appropriate to leave HR completely out of this—but who would his opponent be? Tectonicus? One or more of the meme-gods? The whole Guild crew?

They both had good points. The problem I ultimately have with bandit’s argument is a bit shallower. Syr’nj may never have trusted her with the super secret ‘we died and came back’ stuff but ultimately she left a lot in the gnomes hands. It always seemed like Bandit was the one who just didn’t really want to be apart of the group. More over, we as readers know what happened to Byron was not his fault, nor the fault of faulty medicine nor anyone but HR’s fault. Knowing that, knowing that Byron was as much a victim as anyone else, and that Bandit was so callous, even happy, about his death kind of irks me the wrong way.

Well, I don’t think it was exactly like that. Bandit basically never had faith in Syr’nj’s potion, and pretty much expected Byron’s curse would become a fatal liability if he was allowed to continue in the group. Remember that it was Byron in Berzerker mode who chopped off Bandit’s arms and killed everybody during that first fight with Harky.
So Bandit’s satisfaction at taking Byron out is about the same one would feel by disarming a ticking time-bomb that nobody else believed was there.
In Bandit’s mind, she did “what needed to be done” and made the necessary choice that Syr’ng herself should have made but failed to do. Byron was too much of a risk to trust on the battlefield.
So Bandit stands by her actions, and Syr’ng still refuses to objectively assess the situation (which she was not present to witness), and blames Bandit for “murdering” Byron, twisting Bandit’s obvious distrust of Byron (after he murdered her in berzerker mode) into being some kind of hatred which served as the motive to her “crime”.
Bandit’s only real “crime” is being sassy.

You make a case that Bandit planned to kill Byron long before I think she did, hid that intention, and had no respect for the leader of the group she joined. Then, having made a case against Bandit which, if accurate, would more than justify Syr’nj’s having her locked up at any time, you say “Syr’ng[sic] refuses to objectively assess the situation” and finish with “Bandit’s only real ‘crime’ is being sassy.” Mystifying.

I think Bandit won this one. Not by a lot. They were both good. I also, y’know, still believe Syr was more wrong in the main storyline with these two so I’m a lil biased. (notice I said “more” wrong? As in, I think they both did some wrong? ;D) Normally Syr’s my favorite, though. :D

Syr’nj. Bandit’s issue was always simple: she has problems with her own inadequacies and failures and takes it out on everyone else. She was given command, given every gesture of trust by Byron and whatnot and when it all went horrendously south for reasons neither of them could have forseen she felt at fault but chose to project that frustration outwards.

I gotta give it to Syr’nj on this one, I don’t think Bandit pressed her grievances hard enough to drive it home and the absolute finality I hear in my head over the line “You always have a choice” is really winning this for me.

Much as I love Syr’Nj, I have to give it to Bandit for the way she lets her patterns of speech rule the rhythm. Syr’Nj’s rhythm is more straight-forward, but Bandit’s lurches and swoops and yet maintains control.

I don’t understand what the spelling of syllabus as “sillibus” is intended to convey, as they’d be pronounced the same; it doesn’t convey dialect or manner of speaking, and I don’t know of any other reason to mis-spell it.

Honestly, half the problem is that Bandit is sitting there feeling smugly superior after Syr had to watch her kill her mate. Syr even says it here – the reason she’s so convinced that Bandit just turned traitor to kill him out of hidden hate is because of the way Bandit said it was good that he died. She spends more of her time blaming Syr and Byron for daring to hope he could actually enjoy the right to live than actually explaining she had no real choice. Yeah, Bandit was forced to kill him, but throwing it in Syr’s face only confirms the latter’s admittedly biased accusations.

I get what people are saying about Sr’Nyj being biased, never having apologized, etc, but that’s not the point of a rap battle.
Sr’Nyj came out the gate swinging with strong rhymes and never let up. Bandit got fancy in a few places but couldn’t hold up to the medic’s methodical relentlessness. The winner is Sr’Nyj.

Guilded Age does not claim ownership of any of the corporate branding that appears in this comic, nor does it claim any affiliation, partnership, or endorsement of any kind. They are used strictly as an artistic choice for the set dressing of the comic.